1st May 2008
by Ben Davis on 17 October, 2008 | 0 comments
On this day in 1927 the first ever cooked meals on a scheduled flight were introduced on a passage between London and Paris. Now if you were familiar with that piece of useless information you would know that today is May 1st. Another reason you might know that its May 1st is if you are a closet Morris dancer. Right now you would be polishing your sticks and ironing your napkins ready for the Mayday dance around the Maypole. Mayday is traditionally the day for springtime fertility and, perhaps more suitably, the day for local gatherings and music.
Our Mayday gathering begins tonight at Telfords Warehouse – it’s the return of the kid. Kid Carpet returns for another manic live show, with his children’s toy ensemble that would make any Toys ‘R’ Us manager rub his hands in glee when a certain KC walks through his shop door. He has toured with some big names; Badly Drawn Boy, Mylo, Willy Mason, Arcade Fire and ermm those millions of peaches lovers The Presidents of the United States of America. It’s free entry all night.
Tonight there is yet another instalment of the ongoing Panic Promotions Battle of the Bands at McLean’s in Pentre. They are on the final heat (6) and this time they have IdleWillKill, Juju Voodoo amongst others. It’s £3.50 to get in and begins at 7:45pm.
Head down the canal from Telfords and you’ll come across the Frog and Nightingale pub. Tonight there is some cross pollination happening. Wrexham band The Maydays will be making their Chester debut and it’s free entry. Witness one of the latest fine offerings from Wrexham!
Tomorrow night 2manyJDs return to The Old Swan. The Team Lynne DJs are the hosts, who comprise of your ex ‘The Scene’ column writer Laura Byding Citizen and the Radio Lynne Sound System. Expect everything and all the in-betweens to be played, they like a party and you are all invited and it’s free to be involved.
The other gig I know of for tomorrow night is Tobacco Road at The Griffin in Mold where they will be playing their popular rock and blues material.
On Saturday you can muddle on down the usual over populated dirge of the high street bars or you can have an altogether different experience watching Trader and Ashbey play at the Goulbourne Pub in Wrexham or ‘sin’ it up at Baggies in Sgt Pepper’s where Revurb (formerly The Unwanted), Occums Razor and some metal DJs will be entertaining. The Goulbourne is free entry and starts at 8pm and Baggies is £4 and kicks off at 11pm.
On Sunday it’s time for a pre-bank holiday special from Central Station. The Big Beat are returning to the venue following their 8 week stint entertaining the Saturday crowds downstairs with their classic party anthems. If that isn’t enough for you, resident Friday DJ Neal Thompson aka Indie Rock n Roll will be on hand to continue the revellery until late. Doors are 8pm and it’s £5 a ticket.
On Tuesday the Mystery Jets will be rolling into Wrexham town. The gig is being hosted by Don’t Die Just Yet! at Central Station. The Mystery Jets are from Eel Pie Island in West London, which is a small island in the middle of the River Thames (it’s 600ft long from end to end) and in the 1960’s hosted gigs by The Who and The Rolling Stone at the Eel Pie Hotel. Incidentally, the island was also the parade ground for the Grand Old Duke of Yorks’ 10 000 men and is also home to millionaire inventor Trevor Bayliss. There’s some pub ammunition to fill your weapon with. I’ve been playing the Mystery Jets’ latest single ‘Young Love’ non-stop for about 8 weeks now, and their next single ‘Two Doors Down’ is just as good. Its £10 a ticket, over 14’s are welcome and doors open at 7:30pm.
I can’t write this column without a bit of shameless plugging can I? No, I thought not. Thanks for all of you who have bought tickets for the wrexhammusic.co.uk GOOD TIMES! Festival so far. You can buy them online at seetickets.com or in person at Yales Café Bar, Wrexham. Point your browser towards www.wrexhammusic.co.uk/goodtimes for all the info.
How to better your life this week? Take one computer, complete with keyboard, mouse, screen, an internet connection, and some speakers and go listen to the freshly mastered demos from the druid doom rock merchants Mother of Six. Visit their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/motherofsix and give your ears a good seeing to.
Email me your bits of news to ben@wrexhammusic.co.uk, or if you see me wondering about, stop me in a pleasant manner and say hello. Happy Morris Dancing.